China warned world politicians against meeting the Dalai Lama

BEIJING: China on Saturday warned world leaders and politicians against meeting the Dalai Lama, saying it would be perceived as a “major offence” as the spiritual leader is a “separatist” trying to carve out an independent Tibet.

Foreign officials also can’t get away by saying they were meeting the exiled Tibetan leader in a personal capacity as they still represent their governments, Zhang Yijiong, who heads the Communist Party’s Tibet working group, told reporters on the sidelines of the party congress here.

“Any country, or any organisation of anyone, accepting to meet with the Dalai Lama, in our view, is a major offence to the sentiment of the Chinese people,” said Zhang, who is also an executive vice minister of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party.

“After fleeing China in 1959, he established a so-called government-in-exile, whose goal and core agenda is the independence of Tibet and to separate (from) China…” he said.